Marina Industries Association in Battle to Marinas
by Colin Bransgrove 2 Apr 2020 12:56 UTC
The Marina Industries Association (MIA) is fighting to support its members during these terribly challenging times as are many other industry associations.
The MIA has been working in cooperation with the Australian Boating Industry Association (BIA) providing a strong united voice in support of recreational boating and the 28,000 jobs directly dependent on it.
The objective wherever possible is to ensure that before the details of the overarching COVID-19 directives are applied to our sector, governments and their agencies are presented with solutions to the compliance issues that may arise and we are helping to save sector jobs.
The announcement 2 April by Transport for NSW regarding permissible boating is an example of what cooperative and proactive advocacy can achieve. Permitted uses are: exercise (e.g. kayaking/sailing/paddling etc); fishing, get to and from work, where the work cannot reasonably be performed from home; to get groceries; and to provide assistance, care or support to an immediate member of the person's family.
What the announcement makes a particular note of is 'Packing up your boat for a road trip and a half day fishing expedition is (also) not in the spirit of the restrictions.' This highlights the importance of boaters and the industry ensuring the overarching intent of COVID-19 directives are thoughtfully applied in any permitted boating activity to ensure the sustainability of the permitted activity.
MIA President Andrew Chapman said that combined with the Queensland governments statement of 31 March allowing fishing within tight constraints that it provides other governments with a framework to permit limited boating activity.
"The cooperation between BIA and MIA and the pro-active advocacy with governments is resulting in benefits for our members. There are many more issues facing our industry that we are also dealing with in a systematic and strategic fashion."
More details of these matters can be found on the MIA website, www.marinas.net.au